Arsenal add 2 new signings to squad for Spurs match

Viktor Gyokeres has been added to Arsenal’s squad for the pre-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, but Mikel Arteta has insisted they’ll be cautious with him.

Photo via Arsenal.com

Connor Humm reports that Viktor Gyokeres has officially been added to Arsenal’s squad for the pre-season game against Tottenham Hotspur in Hong Kong on Thursday, with Cristhian Mosquera also included.

That raises the possibility of a debut or two in the midweek fixture, but Mikel Arteta suggested on Sunday that they’ll want to assess Gyokeres’ condition before throwing him in.

Photo via Arsenal.com

“I think he hasn’t had a single training session with the team since the last game with Sporting when they became champions,” Arteta began.

“So we will assess him tomorrow, he’s done all the medicals, everything is looking good but to get him up to speed with the right levels of fitness I think is very important.

“We’re not going to stop him, we want him with us as quick as possible but we’ll have to assess and the medical team will do that.

“He’s been incredible, he was very clear from the beginning where he wanted to play and how passionate I felt from him from day one when we first spoke. You can see the boys, you can see the environment as well, very excited with his arrival.”

Photo via Arsenal.com

It was well documented that Gyokeres had refused to return to training with Sporting CP before his departure for Arsenal, believing the club had gone back on a promise they’d made to let him leave for €60m plus €10m in add-ons.

Arsenal ended up paying €63.5m plus €10m in add-ons, and even that fee was only possible once Gyokeres’ agent agreed to give up his €10m commission.

The striker has been keeping himself fit with individual training sessions, but this week will be the first time he’s been involved in group training since the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

It will be a judgement call whether the work Gyokeres has done in individual training is enough to have him ready for involvement in Thursday’s game.